Haunt You Forever

I watched, sad and depressed, as the Lakers basketball team gleamed with glory with their finals’ trophy held up high, their eyes shining with tears of immense joy as they hurried to hug their coach past where I sat invisible on the edge of the reserved seats. They were normal. They could run with their own legs. None of them needed a leg support to move around.
Until that day ten years ago, neither did I, too, could run, skip, jostle and play basketball with the best of them. Then came the day that changed my whole life. I started to seethe with anger as my eyes pinpointed the captain of the team, Johnny McDonald. Johnny and I had been basketball practice partners since we were young until THAT FRIDAY. Johnny and I went on a harmless adventure, during which I fell. That was the adventure on which we should never have embarked!
I had just finished basketball practice for the day; it was a cool, windy Friday after at the end of the week, with the whole of the weekend to look forward to. Johnny and I decided to have a quick saunter near the Rocky River away from Johnny’s father, our strict coach.
Before long, the air was filled with panting and giggles from Johnny as we chased each other along the bank of the river. We stumbled across an old but mysterious well which we intrigued us. We were having too good a time, at least until quite suddenly, worried voices of Johnny’s father and other assistants reached our ears. Johnny ushered me near the well and gave a ‘Get in the well’ look. There was a sturdy looking rope overhanging down into the well and I carefully abseiled down the well. Without warning, I slid and lost my grip on the rope. I fell for a few metres before crashing on my knees on the muddy bottom. I screamed in agony as I clutched my right bleeding leg. I yelled for Johnny but there was no answer. Soon, I was calling weakly with my energy drained away – and an ever increasing sense of dread as I was unable to move my leg.
Meanwhile, Johnny was discovered by his angry father and faced his vocal ire. Johnny bowed his head in shame and said nothing of me. I was still at the bottom of the well enduring terrible silent pain. Johnny‘s fear of his father silenced his voice as to my predicament. He kept mum even when was dragged off by his father’s assistants. I was left alone with my suffering – as abandoned as the well.
Time passed and I began to feel really faint. A greater fear than Johnny felt gnawed at my stomach. It was clear no one was going to save me.
The sky had turned dark – over an hour had passed since Johnny had decamped. I attempted to stand up. As I did, pain shot up through my right leg and I collapsed, panting. Unwelcome tears streamed down my face as I gritted my teeth hard. My breathing was laboured and my chest was aching. A sense of falling through black space engulfed me. A tingling sensation ate into my right leg and then… nothing. Blackness.
The next thing I remember was waking up in the clinical white linen of a hospital bed. I was terrified. And worse still, when I tried to move my right leg, I felt nothing… nothing at all. “Was it still there?” I remember thinking as I frantically parted the cool linen.
Now two years, the doctors say I am recovering well with the support of my leg cast. My kneecap is shattered. The rest of my leg below it is amputated. Now I need a metal leg cast to support my crippled stump. Johnny’s father has rejected the cheer support I had volunteered so that I could remain part of the team.
They can run, jostle and play basketball. Have the freedom to move and win the finals trophy. Until that day and that adventure…so could I. That adventure haunts Johnny- but not nearly as much as it haunts me. The adventure neither of us should have gone on has left him with no physical or, it seems, mental scar. Now when Johnny comes to visit, I will invite him on an adventure of my own. It’s time I made him face what he did. He, too, should be haunted forever…

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